In March 2008, Cambodia saw the implementation of a new law entitled: Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. Aimed at offering protection to women in prostitution by making the selling of sex illegal, it has resulted in clean-up operations and police raids of red light areas. Women in prostitution are being arrested, reporting police brutality and imprisonment. It's also resulted in decreased safety for women as brothels are closed down and women are forced into street work. Mei, a young prostitute in Phnom Penh, describes how she fell into prostitution and the horrific experiences she has had as a result of the new law.

Women who leave their countries to seek asylum elsewhere do so for a range of reasons. Some flee punitive political regimes, others have experienced gender violence including domestic violence, rape, forced marriage and honour crimes. Women arriving in Britain are often further brutalised by the asylum process. Often separated from their families and isolated from support, women wait years for decisions from the Home Office. Farhat describes how she fled Pakistan after her family decided her daughters, aged five and seven, must marry men 15 years older than them. Farhat's UK residency is still in doubt, but that did not stop her being invited to Buckingham Palace five years ago as a tribute to her voluntary work in Britain.

Aung San Suu Kyi will spent the next year and a half under guard at her home in Rangoon after a court today found her guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest. Her sentence means she will play no part in elections the junta has promised to hold early next year.
The 64-year-old learned her fate in a few minutes of courtroom drama witnessed by journalists and diplomats from the same countries that have been calling for her immediate and unconditional release. Although her sentence falls some way short of the maximum five years available to the court, news that the Nobel peace laureate had again been denied her freedom drew immediate condemnation from around the world.

Milan y Sredoje Lukic, dos primos serbobosnios que lideraban un grupo paramilitar autodenominado Águilas Blancas, fueron condenados ayer a cadena perpetua por el Tribunal Penal Internacional para la antigua Yugoslavia por uno de los crímenes más horrendos que recuerdan sus jueces. En junio de 1992, y en dos ataques sucesivos, encerraron a unos 142 niños, mujeres y ancianos musulmanes en sendas casas a las que prendieron fuego después. Quemados vivos dentro, los pocos que trataron de escapar fueron abatidos a tiros. Los hechos, calificados por la fiscalía de "ejemplo claro de limpieza étnica", ocurrieron en Visegrado, al este de Bosnia.

La pareja siempre ha negado su participación en el crimen. De hecho, a Sredoje Lukic, de 48 años, le impusieron 30 años de reclusión porque no pudo probarse que estuviera presente en uno de los ataques. Milan Lukic, de 41 años, sí pasará el resto de su vida entre rejas. Durante el juicio, los testigos señalaron que las mujeres retenidas por la pareja "solían ser violadas y torturadas, una vez que sus esposos, padres, hermanos e hijos habían sido asesinados". Patrick Robinson, el presidente de la sala que los condenó, calificó sus actos de "crueles más allá de lo imaginable y con total desdén por la vida humana".